New scheme launched to support county food banks

Help: Food banks across Lancashire will be reimbursed for council referrals

Food banks in Lancashire are set to benefit from a £100,000 support scheme.

Lancashire County Council cabinet members are poised to sign off a small grants system that will enable its Care and Urgent Needs Support Scheme (CaUNSS) to support partnership working with local food banks.

The idea is that people in crisis are referred to existing food banks in the area instead of being given money for food, which may be spent on other things.

The food banks that sign up to the system will be reimbursed for the cost of the food and the cost of delivery at a flat fee of around £26 per parcel.

The scheme has been running in the East Lancashire for a year, since the council’s CaUNSS replaced the Department for Work and Pensions Discretionary Social Fund, but it will now be formally rolled out across the rest of the country.

County Councillor David Borrow, deputy leader of Lancashire County Council, said: “The CaUNSS was set up on April 1, 2013, and we have been supporting food banks in east Lancashire from the very beginning.

“We now want to build on that success by working in partnership with food banks across the county.

“The new small grants scheme will mean that all food banks in Lancashire that join the scheme will be reimbursed for providing food parcels to the people we refer to them.

“We have already been in touch most food banks countywide to invite them to join the scheme, but any that have not been contacted can get an application form by emailing CaUNSS@lancashire.gov.uk.”

The CaUNSS system also refers people to schemes where they can receive food and clothing.